Ron Dunn Podcast - First John Part Four

Episode Date: February 16, 2022

Ron Dunn continues from First John

Now, Heavenly Father, I pray in Christ's name that you would speak to each one of us now, not only through everything that you've said to us in the service so far, but now as we open your Word, I pray that the Holy Spirit will do His ministry of taking the Word which He has Himself inspired and illuminating our hearts so that we can comprehend what you would say to us today through your book. Give us open hearts to receive your message, and Lord, most of all, give us obedient hearts to do what you say, because we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Now I want you to open your Bibles this morning

to 1 John chapter 1. 1 John chapter 1, and we.S., I suppose you would say. John wrote the gospel that we might know that Jesus is the Christ and that we might have life through believing on his name. And he wrote the gospel to tell us how to be saved. and then he penned this little epistle so that the saved might know how to behave. The gospel tells us how to be saved, and the epistle tells us how the saved are to behave themselves after they are saved. And there's probably not another book in the New Testament that so clearly and emphatically lays out how the Christian life is to be lived, as does this little epistle of 1 John.

We're going to read this morning the ten verses of the first chapter. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard and which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life. For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye may also have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

This then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth but if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. Now I'm going to read again the fourth verse.

This verse reveals to us the primary purpose for which John is writing these words. And these things write we unto you that your joy may be full. That your joy may be full. I want to speak to you this morning on how to be happy although saved. You laugh at that, but it's not really all of that funny because I'm finding

not only in my own life but as I meet Christians in different places that one of the most desperate needs of the hour is for Christians to learn how to be happy though saved how to be a Christian and enjoy it.

Because this life that is supposed to be a life of radiance and joyfulness is not so in a great many professing Christians. And I tell you, there's not a poorer advertisement of the gospel than a joyless Christian. But on the other hand, there's not a greater testimony of what the Lord Jesus Christ can do and will do than the testimony of a believer who is living in fullness of joy. And I think we may as well say at the outset that it is God's intention that the believer have fullness of joy. Now, don't mistake this as being synonymous with what you and I call happiness. And I don't want to spend too much time in comparing and contrasting happiness and joy

because you've heard that done a thousand times. The Christian may not always be happy in the sense that you and I think of happiness. I mean, you know, always just with a smile on his face and laughing and giggling. I'm not saying that the believer is supposed to always be silly. There's some that mistake silliness for joy, and that's not the same thing. Even when Jesus was facing the cross, when he was facing the cross, he said, I'm going to give you my joy. At that time, he had fullness of joy. And he said again and again, especially in those chapters 14, 15, and 16, and 17 of the Gospel of John, that his intention for us that we might experience fullness of joy.

And it doesn't mean that everything that's going to happen to us is going to be a happy circumstance, but it means that there is to be about the Christian a quality of life so that regardless of what happens on the outside, he has a well, an artesian well on the inside, always springing up in joy. As a matter of fact, in the epistle to the Philippians, as Paul writes, being imprisoned and, for all he knows, about to be executed by the Roman government again and again, he exhorts these believers to be filled with joy, rejoicing the Lord always.

And here was a testimony of a man who, regardless of the adverse circumstances, was a man who was experiencing fullness of joy. When you think about this, you have to understand that absence of joy is an indication that you need revival. The psalmist prayed in the 85th Psalm in verse 6, Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee?

And in the 51st Psalm, when David was praying for forgiveness, one of his petitions was this, Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. And when a believer loses that joy, then it is an indication that something critical has happened in his spiritual relationship with the Lord. The fruit of the Spirit is joy. And when the Holy Spirit is filling and controlling

and reproducing the life of Jesus in the believer, there will be joy. As you read the Gospels, you'll find that on two occasions the disciples were criticized because they were happy. I doubt seriously if many believers today are criticized because of the joy that they have in the Lord. And yet it just serves as another indication that Jesus intended that the believer always live a life of joy. And in this fourth verse he says, These things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

And the word full is a word with its meaning and its tense to indicate that your joy may be completely and continually full. He's not talking about an occasional spasm of joy as a result of some experience or some conference or something else that might happen. All of us have those times where we're filled with joy, but that's not what he's referring to.

This word full means to be completely full, lacking nothing, so full that there's room for nothing else, that there's not anything missing in its joy, and it also indicates a continual joy, a continual joy, not occasional, not spasmodic, and so he's saying, I'm writing these things to you that your joy may always be complete and continual. Well, how does that come about? How does a believer enter into such a relationship with the Lord that he can say, my joy is full and complete? He says in that fourth verse,

these things I'm writing to you so that you can have this joy. So that would lead me to believe if I investigate as to what things John was writing to us, that'll teach me how to live a life of joy, how to be a Christian and enjoy it at the same time. And so let's look at this first chapter. These things of verse 4, of course, refer to everything that John pens in this epistle. But everything that he says later on in the other three or four chapters have as their foundation the things that are said in chapter 1. And so we can look at chapter 1 and discover these things that will enable us to have a complete and a continual joy in our Christian

life. So, three things that we'll have time, I think, this morning to discuss. John reveals to us in this passage of Scripture that the joy of the believer is a joy that has its source in this, that it shares a common life. The joy of the believer is the joy of sharing a common life. The joy of the believer is the joy of sharing a common life. Now, as some of you have this morning the New English Bible, you'll find that phrase in this first chapter. Let's look at the third verse. And I want you to notice the chronology of what he's saying, the sequence of facts. Now, he's already spoken about the life, the life of Jesus that was with the Father

and has been unveiled, has been manifested to us, has come down by the incarnation, by the crucifixion, by the resurrection, by the ascension, by the exaltation. This life of God, this eternal life, was revealed to us through the Lord Jesus Christ. And so he says, now I'm telling you about this in verse 3, in order that that which we have seen and heard we're declaring unto you,

in order that you also may have fellowship with us. And truly, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. All right? He says, now, I'm passing on the facts of the gospel for this reason, so that you might have fellowship with the Lord, so that you might get in on this thing that we've experienced, so that you might share, I believe the New English Bible has it here, so that you might share a common life.

Now look at verse 4. And these things, what things? These things that enable you to share a common life, these things write we unto you that your joy may be full. And so the first thing he's saying to us is, the joy that the believer is to have continually and completely is the joy that comes through fellowship with God. The source of all true joy is our fellowship with God. And the word fellowship means sharing

a common life. And to have fellowship with God, as Peter Lord so aptly put it the week before last, fellowship is not Kool-Aid and cookies. That's not fellowship. And fellowship isn't, you come over to my house tonight after church and let's have some coffee, or let's go out to the Village Inn or Denny's and let's sit around, eat a hamburger and talk about the events of the day. Now, that is not scriptural fellowship. I think that's good, but that is not what this word means. The word has in it two ideas. First of all, it has in it the idea of partaking, of partaking. It means that I have something and I want you to partake of it.

I want to share it with you. And so when it says that I am to have fellowship with God, it means that I am to be a partaker in the life of God, that God has something he wants me to partake of. God has something he wants to share with me. I think the great illustration of this, of course, is in Luke chapter 15. The story of the prodigal son, the father there, naturally, obviously represents God the Father. The prodigal son represents that lost person as he comes out of repentance into salvation. And as he comes, he's nothing more than a beggar. Sin has wasted his life. Sin has put him in a position of wanting, of lack, of

deficiency. And he comes to the father and he says, I'm no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy hired servants. And the father says this, kill the fatted calf. Bring forth a new robe. Put it on him. Put shoes on his feet. Put a ring on his finger. Call in all of my friends and let's have a party. For this my son was dead and now is alive. He was lost, but now he's found. And you have there a beautiful picture of that father sharing all that he has with that son. Now, what makes that even more significant is that son had already gotten his share. Because when he went to the far country, he preceded that journey by saying,

I want my inheritance right now. I can't wait until you die. I want it now. Give to me the portion that falls to me. So he had already received everything he had a right to expect. He had no right, absolutely not moral, not spiritual, not legal. He had no right to expect anything from his father. His father had already given him his share of his inheritance, and yet this is fellowship. It is the father looking upon a son who has sinned against

him, who has lost, who has wasted everything, who has no claim on him whatsoever legally, morally, or spiritually, but he says, I want to share with you all that I have. That's fellowship with God. That's God wanting me to be a partaker in what he has. 2 Peter chapter 1 says that you and I have become fellowshipers in the divine life. We have become partakers of the divine nature. That's what salvation is. Salvation is God saying, I want to share with you my life. I want to share with you my nature. I want to share with you all that I have. I want you to be a partaker.

Another instance of this, of course, is in Revelation 3 and 20. Jesus says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock, and if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him. And this brings us to the second aspect of fellowship. Not only am I to be a partaker, but the Word indicates also that I'm to be a partner. I'm to be a partner. Now, this fellowship is a reciprocal fellowship. God simply doesn't say, I want to share with you all that I have. I want you to share with me, too. I want us to become

partners. Here's what Jesus said, if any man hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and what? I will sup with him. I will sit down at his table. I will eat what he has to offer. I will receive what he wants to share with me. I will sup with him and he will sup with me. Do you see the mutual reciprocation there, the partnership? And this sharing of a common life is God making me a partner in things divine. I can't think of anything to fill me with more joy than that. If you were the president and founder and sole owner of a

multi-million dollar a year business, and here I am, a little nobody, a peon, a peasant, broke, and you come to me and say, I would like for you to be a partner in my business. 50-50. I want you to have an equal share, and I want you to be a partner in my business. I would say, well, I'd love to be a partner in your business, but I mean, what do I need to buy in? I believe I may have $15, $20 in my pocket, and I could probably sign a note at the bank for another $500. How can I buy into your partnership? He says, I want you to be a partner, a full partner, and I'm going to give you the partnership.

Now, I don't know about you, that'd fill me with a little bit of joy. And by the way, I'm open to any invitations like that. If, you know, if anybody have any ideas like that, I'm open. I'd be a fool to turn it down. I'll tell you something else. A man is a fool to turn down God's offer of fellowship. And God comes and he says, I know you don't have any money. I know you don't have any goodness or righteousness,

but I want you to not only to be a partaker of my life, I want you to be a partner. I want us to become co-laborers together, and you're going to be one of the children. An heir of God, a joint heir, a partner with the Lord Jesus Christ. That simply means that I have an equal share with Jesus in all that the Father has. And the source of this joy, the source of this joy is sharing a common life. Now, notice, this is a life we share with the Father, but it's also a life we share with the family. Look at the third verse, that which we have seen and heard declare we unto

you that you also may have fellowship with us, fellowship with us. Look again in verse 7, but if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. All through this little epistle of 1 John, he emphasizes my relationship, my fellowship with others, members of the family. And this sharing of a common life, friend, isn't only sharing with my father, it's sharing with my family. And I'll tell you something, one of the primary reasons for our losing our joy in the Christian life is because we do not know how to share the life of the family. That doesn't mean that we simply share blessings. It means we share burdens.

It doesn't simply mean we simply share blessings. It means we share burdens. It doesn't simply mean we share spiritual things. It means that we share material things. As a matter of fact, one of the places where this word fellowship is used in the New Testament, it is used of sharing money with somebody that's in need. And if you'll read carefully the book of Acts, you'll find that there was no such thing as a needy Christian in the early church.

No such thing as a needy Christian in the early church because the moment somebody began to camp on the outskirts of need, that need was met immediately by what? The fellowship of the believers, the fellowship of the saints. Now, I tell you, what we are looking to Washington to do today for our family of the Lord, God looks to the church

to do. God looks to the church to do. And it may be that one reason you keep losing that joy is because you've never learned to share your life and to share the life of other believers. It doesn't simply mean that I share what I have, but I want you to share with me, sharing in fellowship and sharing in love and sharing problems and sharing burdens and sharing concerns. It means that I do not live an isolated life.

The Bible knows nothing about a solitary Christian. You'll never find the word saints in the singular. It's always in the plural in the New Testament. John Wesley said it is impossible to live the Christian life all by yourself. And you and I cannot, we can't even begin to hope to maintain a life of joy unless our fellowship with the Father and our fellowship with the family is closely maintained. All right, first of all, this joy is a joy of sharing a common life. Now, not only is it this, but the Bible in this passage also reveals to us that this joy is sustained by a consistent life, by a consistent life. Let's look now to the

fifth verse. This then is the message which we've heard of him, this message that's going to fill you with joy, and are declaring unto you that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. Some translations read we have fellowship with him. And the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin.

All right, notice. This is the message about God, this message that is going to fill you with joy. And this message is that God is light, and that means that there is moral purity and moral honesty, that God is a God of absolute holiness, moral purity. Now, if we are going to have fellowship with that God, God is a God of absolute holiness, moral purity. Now, if we are going to have fellowship with that God,

then we must walk in the light as He is in the light. So, joy comes from fellowship. Therefore, if I am to maintain this fellowship and thus maintain my joy, I must live a consistent life. And this means it is a walk. And I'm glad he uses the word walk as he does again and again in this epistle because it indicates, dear friend, that you do not merely make a decision or have a crisis, but it indicates that this life is to be a life that is consistent.

A walk is simply one step after another just like the one you took before. Now maybe some of you took a step last week in our conference and God did some things in your life, but I have news for you. Your joy is not going to last very long unless you keep on taking the same steps every day you took last week in that conference.

One step doth not a journey make. And some of you may believe that simply because you took a step and you came to the altar or God did something in your heart and you took a step of obedience and maybe today you still have the joy of that last week with you.

But I have news for you, that joy is not going to continue unless you continue taking those steps until it becomes a walk. It is a walk, and it is a walk that is consistent with the character of God. If God is in the light,

how am I supposed to walk? I'm also supposed to walk in the light. I'd like to ask you a little question. Has your walk this past week, and by that word walk, you understand the Bible means your daily life, your daily life. Has your walk this week, your daily behavior, has it been consistent with what you know about God?

Has it been consistent with what you know about God? For instance, when you were put under pressure in a situation, was that reaction consistent with what you know about Jesus? I see two or three smiling. I feel like I'm getting the range of some people. You know exactly what I'm talking about. Has your behavior in pressure situations, your reactions,

have they been consistent with what you know about the Lord Jesus? Can you honestly say this morning, this past week I've walked in the light, I've walked in the light, I've walked in obedience. All the life that God has given me, I've walked in it. Then I'll tell God has given me, I've walked in it. Friend, I'll tell you something this morning. There's nothing, there's nothing that will

shatter and demolish your joy in the Lord any quicker than walking out of the light and walking inconsistently with what you know about Jesus. It's simple. Have you walked in the light? Have you lived up to the knowledge you have about the Lord Jesus this week? It is a consistent life. All right, have time for one more thing. This joy is not only sustained by a consistent life, it is safeguarded by a cleansed life. A cleansed life.

He says in verse 8, if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness

you know what he's saying he's saying the secret of a life filled with joy is unbroken fellowship with the Father and with the family. Unbroken fellowship with the Father and with the family. I'm supposed to live a consistent life, but I don't always do it. I'm supposed to walk in the light, and every reaction as well as every action of my daily life is to be consistent and harmonious with what I know about Jesus, but it's not always.

I may have been in some pressure situations this past week, and my reaction wasn't in the light. It was in the dark. It was absolutely contrary to what I know about Jesus. Well, what am I to do then? Throw up my hands and say, Well, I've flubbed it. I've missed it. I've messed it all up.

No, that joy can be safeguarded by a cleansed life. And I think it is highly significant that he puts this verse right after that tremendous exhortation for us to always walk in the light. You know, I'm glad the Lord knows that we're dust. He knows our frame. That's what the psalmist said. He remembereth our frame. He knows I'm made of dust.

And God always provides for every contingency. God always provides for my frailty, for my weakness. And after a tremendous command that says, walk in the light, he comes and says, I know you'll not always be able to walk in the light, and so if you confess your sin, I'll be faithful and just. He says the same thing in chapter 2, verse 1. My little children, these things write I unto you that you sin not. And the tense of that word sin means that you sin not a single time.

That's the standard that God has for us. God's not saying, I don't want you to live too bad a life. He says, I don't want you to commit a single solitary sin. And as long as a day goes by and you commit one sin, you have no right to be satisfied with your spiritual progress. Well, that's a pretty big standard. And then look in verse 1, the next phrase, he comes down to where we are. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

And he is, not was, he is still the covering for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. You know, that's just like the righteous. And he is, not was, he is still the covering for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. You know, that's just like the Lord. He comes and hits me right square between the eyes saying, don't sin a single time. And if he stopped right there, I tell you, it'd be hard. There wouldn't be much joy in the Christian life. About the only way I know to live a day without sin is just stay asleep all day long

the minute I get out of bed you know you become vulnerable these things write unto you that you sin not and if any man sin we have an advocate with the Father. And so I can safeguard this joy by a cleansed life. And so when I do step out of the light,

and when I do act and react inconsistently with what I know about Him, what am I to do? I am to immediately and continually, for that's the tense of the verbs in 1 John 1.9, I am to what? Agree with God. Just confess it to God. My sin, what happens?

Immediately, completely, He forgives me and cleanses me from all unrighteousness. And so the way that was blocked has been opened again. And that fellowship with God which had been momentarily severed by my disobedience, I have been linked up to him again in fellowship. And so the life of God is continually being shared with me, and that's my joy. It is possible for a believer to live a complete and continual life of joy as he lives a consistent life and as he lives a cleansed life. I guess you'd have to say the only thing that really

takes away the joy of a believer is sin. I guess that's what you'd have to say, isn't it? Because that's the only thing I know of that'll break my fellowship with God. I don't think ignorance will do it. I don't think the fact that I don't know all the truth will break my fellowship with God. I didn't know any truth except God loving Jesus saved me when I was sinned, but that fellowship was made. The only thing I know that will break my fellowship with God is sin, regardless of what name I give it. And as long as the Spirit is in control, He's producing in me this joy.

And if the joy is not being produced, it must mean the Holy Spirit's not in control. What does that mean? It means I'm in control, not the Spirit. Somewhere or another, sin, selfishness, ego-centered activity has entered in. So this matter of joy, it's a great barometer,

great barometer to find out where you are spiritually. This joy, and again, I'm not talking about this always laughing and hooping it up, you know, and being happy, what we call happy. I'll tell you, sometimes a Christian's heart is broken in agony, but there's still that joy that is there, just as it was in the person of Jesus as he faced the cross, just as it was in the Apostle Paul as he sat in a Roman prison facing execution. There was still joy there.

There was still joy there. It is that artesian well of my relationship with Jesus. And so you can sum it all like this. The secret of that continual joy is your fellowship with God. And so in order to live a life of fullness of joy, at whatever costs, you make certain that fellowship with God is unbroken. That it's always maintained. The Ron Dunn Podcast is available only for personal edification,

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